There are lots of jobs but matching platforms

Sep 17, 2021 by Nazar

I read this in an article a few days ago and copy pasted it.

There are lots of jobs but matching them with people who can do them is a real issue. It’s a big problem, especially for small businesses where the entrepreneur is trying to produce a product, increase sales, and a dozen other things all at once.

What we need are ways to

Define the specific skills needed for each job role, and

Identify people who have those skills, and

Match them with each other.

Moreover, the matching process has to be more efficient than sorting through resumes, and objective enough to not discriminate in illegal ways.

All that is possible without college degrees. Many professional organizations offer certification programs, specific to certain job categories, which interested people can achieve far more easily and less expensively than a college degree. Some people acquire specialty skills in military service. These offer the kind of objective, third-party certification employers need to see. They just need to see it.

In other words, some of our economy’s jobs problem is really a data problem. We have many jobs available. We also have many workers available, who already have the skills employers want, or could acquire them fairly soon.

That doesn’t mean no one should go to college. The experience has value. That said, it often doesn’t have the kind of value we are trying to squeeze out of it. Organizations like

Opportunity@Work⁠

and

Rework America Business Network⁠

are trying to promote alternative approaches. Solving this problem will pay giant economic dividends. I highly recommend reading the data at these links especially if you are looking to try to find skilled labor for your business. There is also an excellent

NBER working paper⁠

. All of these will help you think outside the box in your hiring practices.

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